Automatic grain-scale.



P-ATENTED DEC. 31, 1907.

T. J. YOUNG. AUTOMATIC GRAIN SCALE.

APPLICATION FILED MA1L28.1906.

3 SHEETSSHEET l.

wit an 7 No. 875,402. I PATENTED DEC. 31, 1907.

T. J. YOUNG.

AUTOMATIC GRAIN SCALE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.28.1906.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

'PATENTED DEC. 31, 1907.

T. J. YOUNG. AUTOMATIC GRAIN SCALE APPLIGATION FILED MAR.28.1906.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 8.

I 1X in zone; 1

' upperv end by means of a cross-piece 13.

PATE T orurron.

THOMAS J. .YOUNG, OF MARTIN, GEORGIA.

AUToMATIc GRAIN-SCALE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 31, 1907.

Application filed March 2a. 1906. semi No. 303,604.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS J. YOUNG, a citizen of the United States, residing at Martin, in the county of Stephens, State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Grain-Scales; and 1 do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the inven tion, such as will enable others skilled in the I art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to automatic grain scales and has for its object to provide a device of this character including a discharge chute and revolving hoppers into which the chute is arranged to successively discharge and to provide novel means for adjusting the device to cause the hoppers to discharge 1 when they have received any desired predetermined weight of grain.

A further object of the invention is to provide a si-mple'but reliable recording mechan ism which will record each revolution of the hopper.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an automatically operated closure or the discharge chute of the device which,

together with a portion of the recording mechanism,-will be operated from the shaft upon which the hoppers are mounted.

In the accoinpan 'ng drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation oi' one side of the device. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the opposite side thereof. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the de vice. Fig. 4 is a rear elevation thereof. Fig.

5 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view taken centrally through the same. Fig. 6 is a detail horizontal sectional view taken through one of the intermediate cross pieces on the line 6-6 of Fig. 1.- Fig. 7 is a detail view of the inner disk of the recording device.

in the drawings, there is shown a frame- 11 which are connected adjacent their lower end by means of cross-pieces 12 and at thgir 'l. e uprights of each pair are connected by means 0 upper and lower cross-pieces 13 and 14 and intermediate cross-pieces 15 and 16 respec tively.

Cohnected at their ends to the upper and intermediate cross pieces of each pair of uprights is a pair of rods 17 which are in paralle relation with respect to each other. Slid ably'mounted upon each pair of rods 17 is a bearing block 18 and engaged through an to support 1 opening formed through each of the upper l cross-pieces 18 and 14 is a threaded rod 19 l upon which is engaged a nut '20 the said nut being arranged to rest upon the upper face of its respective cross-piece, it being understood that by turning the nuts 29 their respective rods 19 will be raised or lowered through the said opening in the cross-pieces. An eye 21 is formed in the lower end of each of the rods 19 and an apertured ear '22 is formed. u on the upper face of each of the-blocks 18. n gaged through the eyes in the ears 22 are the upper and lower ends respectively of helical springs 23, the said springs serving to normally support the block at a predetermined point, but permitting downward movement thereof at certain times as will be hereinafter set forth.

I Mounted in the blocks 18 with its ends extending therebeyond is a shaft 24 upon which is mounted intermediate the pairs of These hoppers have a common oor 26 through which the shaft 24 passes in order ends presented in directly 0 posits directions. In order to cause the volve when material is deposite 1n the upper hopper and to bring the lower hopper 1nto=position to receive a deposit, I mount the hoppers upon opposite si es of the corn mon floor 26 and upon opposite sides of the shaft 24, the said shaft being engaged through the said fioor,- as stated, and intermediate the hoppers. 4

In order that'the hoppers may be held stationary until a predetermined weight of graiulras been delivered, I provide an adjustable 'detent mechanism including a threaded rod 27 which is rotatzrhl'y mounted in the upper and intermediate crosspieces of each of the pairs of uprights, the said rods being. provided finger-pieces or hand cranks 28 as occasion rod may be turned. Engaged upon each of the rods 27 is a detent block 29, it being understood that the tln'eaded'rod 27 is engaged through a threaded aperture formed through one end of the bloclg. At their opposite ends, each of the blocks is provided'with an jacent one of the rods 17, the said rod serving to hold the block against rotation when the rod 27 is turned and to guide the same during its vertical movement. The rods 17 21 and the openings at their upper ends with.

aperture through which is engaged the ad-.

=uprights a pair of revolving hop ers 25.

so i the hoppers and have their open o ipers to remay require and by means of which the said which are engaged through the blocks 29 are provided with a series of scale marks 30 which indicate the weight of grain or the like necessary to release the hoppers. Each of the blocks is provided at one of its ends with an inwardly extending arm 31 arranged for engagement with strips 82 secured to opposito sides of each of the hoppers 25.

From the forcgoingfit' will be understood that the detent block 29 having been set at a predetermined point, the hopper will be held stationary until the indicated weight of grain or the like has been deposited in one of the hoppers when the. hoppers, together with the shaft upon which they are mounted and its hearings will descend until the strips 32 are oht of engagement with the arms of the detent blocks. The upper hopper will then be dumped and the lower hopper presented to receive its deposit.

Mounted upon the cross-piece 13 is an in-'. clined discharge chute 33 to the lower end of which is hinged a closure 34 provided with an apertured car 35 to which is pivoted one end of a rod 36. The rod 36 is pivotally connected at its opposite end to one arm of a bell crank lever 37, the said lever being pivoted to one of the uprights 10 as at 38. The arm of the bell-crank lever 37 to which the rod 36 is pivoted is bent laterally and thence downwardly to clear the u per end of the upright 10 and thence laterall as at 39 and thence forwardly for connection with the rod 36 in a line with the middle of the hinged closure 34. The other arm 40 of the bell crank lever 37 is bent intermediate its ends as at 41 in such a manner that its lower end portion. will extend downwardly and forwardly toward the adjacent end of the shaft 24. secured to this end of the shaft and exterior to the block 18 is a cam block 42 which hasits cam faces arranged to contactwith the downwardly extending endof the arm 40 of the bell crank lever 37'wl1en the hoppers are revolved. It will thus be seen, that, as the hoppers are revolved, the cam block 42 will contact with the arm 40 of the bell-crank lever to rock the lever and move the closure 34 to close the discharge end of the chute 35 and that when the empty hopper is presented below the chute, the closure will again swing to an open position by reason of the weight of material in the discharge chute 33.

The intermediate cross-piece 10 has its inner lace recessed longitudinally forthe recoplion oi. a bar 43 of spring metal which is secured at its forward end to the said crosspiece and which has its rear end bent outwardly at right angles as at 44 and engaged through an opening 45 formed through the aid cross-piece. The extreme outer end of the portion 44 of the bar 43 is pointed as at 46 and the rear end portion of the said bar extends slightly inwardly in the path of tween the disks 48 and 49 with the engaged through openings in the said disk with the disk 49. the same size and of greater diameter than I adjacent upright 11.

adjacent the arm of the bell crank- YO ves, move in an annular groove formed inf A disk of sheet metal or the outer disk 48. other suitable material 52 is disposed heins 51 52 whereby the same will be rotated'together The disks 48 and 52 are of the disk 49 in order that the pointed end 46 of the portion 44 of the bar 43 may contact with the outer portion of the disk 52 without interfering with the rotation of the disk 49. A spring pawl 53 is secured at its lower end to the upright 11 to which the stub shaft 47 is secured and has its upper end flattened and disposed in engagement with the periphery of the disk 49 to prevent backward rotation of the said disk.

Pivoted to the intermediate cross-piece 16 is a bell crank lever 54 which has one of its arms 55 extending u wardly and thence 'rearwardly as at 56 an connected to the extreme end of the said arm is a helical spring 57 which is secured at its opposite end to the The end of the shaft lever is provided with a pair of radial wings 58 which contact with the u wardly extending portion of the arm 55 w ion the shaft 24 revolves to rock the .bell crank lever for a purpose to be hereinafter described. The other arm of'the bell crank lever extends rearward] y and thence upwardly as at 59 and pivoted to the extreme end of the said arm is one end of a rod 60 which is provided at its other end with a down-turnedtooth which lies in engagement with the periphery ofthe disk 49. I

From the foregoing, it will be seen that at each revolution of the shaft 24, the bellcrank lever 54 is'rocked forwardly, moving the disk 49 the distance of one tooth and that the spring 57 will cause the bell crank lever to assume its original position and permit the tooth at the end of the rod 60 to enga e the next ratchet tooth upon the disk 49. it will alsobe noted that the pointed end of the spring bar 43 will be pressed into engagement with the disk 52 thereby making an indentationin the said disk, the said indentation serving to. register the number of revolutions-of the hopper and consequently the number of measures ofpredetermined weights of grain or other material deposited in the said hoppers.

the stub-shaft upon which the disks are mounted and which serves to hold the said disks upon the shaft.

, 'What is claimed is: I

1. A mechanism of theclass described comprising ,a rotatable hopper, a toothed disk, said disk being designed for the support of a record disk, meansconnected with said toothed disk for moving the said disk at each revolution of the hopper, and an indentin device/for indenting Lie record disk, sai

indenting device being actuated by the movement of said hopper at each cycle of each revolution of the hopper.

2. A mechanism of the class described comprising a'rotatable hopper, a'toothed disk designed for the support of a record disk, an angle lever mounted for rockin movement adjacent said disk, a trip actuated by the rotation of the hopper to en age and rock said an le lever,,a spring for he ding the lever norma ly in engagement with the trip, a rod connected with the lever and resting in engagement at one of its ends with the toothed disk whereby when the angle lever is rocked, a step b ,ste movement will be im arted to the dis an a spring controlled in enting device designed to indent the record disk, said device being arranged for actuation at each revolution of the hopper.

3.'A mechanism of the class described comprising a rotatable hopper, a toothed disk designed for the support of a record disk, an an le lever mounted for rockin movement adj acent said disk, a trip actuate by the rotation of the hop er to en age and rock said angle lever, a spring for ho ding the I lever normally in engagement with the trip, a rod. connected with too lever and resting in engagement at one of its ends with the toothed disk whereby when the angle lever is rocked, a step b step movement will be imparted to the dis and a spring controlled indenting device arranged in the path of movement of the hoppers and. arranged to be forced, by the passage of the hopper thereover, against the record disk carried bv the toothed disk. Y

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS J. YOUNG. Witnesses J. C. WATKINs, T. H.'STOVALL. 

